Fabric hat and method of making the same



Sept. 4, 1928. 7 1,682,870

J. M. VAN HEUSEN FABRIC HAT AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Aug. 5. 922

3141x1060; Jam Van Heuen Patented Sept. 4, 1928. v

UNITED STATES JOHN M. VAN HEUSEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FABRIC HAT AND METHOD OF MAKE VG T111 SAME.

Applidation filed August 5, 1922. Serial No. 579,912.

The present invention relates to improvements in hats and method of making :the same. More particularly, my invention relates to hats made of knitted or woven fabric.

Heretofore, cloth or fabric hats have been made of a relatively large number of pieces of material which have been cut to the desired shape and stitched together. For example, the ordinary tennis hat made of white duck or similar material is made in this way. The crown of the hat comprises from four to eight separate pieces cut in a semi-triangular form and secured together" so that the apex of each triangular piece extends to the top ofthe crown where a button is usually attached. The brim of the hat is made of one or more additional strips of fabric cut to shape and secured to the lower edge of the crown.

Hats of this variety do not present the smart and pleasing appearance'of, for example, a Panama hat, :which is commonly made in one piece. One reason, among others, for this lack of smart appearance is that cloth hats of. the type referred to have a number of unsightly-seams running up the crown where'the triangular pieces are joined together. v The present invention contempLtes the production of a fabric hat, the crown of which in the preferred embodiment ismade of a single pieceof fabric and having the brim made either of one or more separate pieces of fabric or, if desired, of the same piece as that of which the crown is composed. Y

vAccording to oneembodiment of my invention I utilize a knitted fabric. This fab-J ric. is so constructed as to have a raised or bulged portion in thecenter. The method of producing knitted fabrics which have a curved or irregular contour is well known 1n the art and, per se,forms no part of my present invention. 'However, in the -interest of clearness I shall now describe briefly one method which is commonly used for knitting such fabrics iii the production of hosiery and which may be employed to aroduce the hat blanks which form a part 0 my inven- 'tion.,

In the manufacture of stockings, the machine known as the footer produces a result similar to that which I desire in the hat material f my P e ent nvention.- The brought back into operation first.

. dressy appearance.

operation of the footer is so arranged that when the heel portion" of a stocking is to'be formed the needles which serve to form the front portion of the stocking are raised so as to suspend their operation while the needles which serve to form the back portion of the stocking are continued in their operation. Of those needles on the back or heel portion whicheontinue to perform the knitting operation, those which are nearest to the front portion of the stocking are raised progressively and thus thrown out of operation. For example, on a 100 needle footer, having the needles arranged in a circular form, fifty of the needles may be raised and thus thrown out of operation when the heel is started. Then after one stitch has been completed in which the remaining fifty needles all operate, one needle at each end of the fiftywhich are still in operation is raised. After the next stitch the next needle on each end is raised, and so on until only a few needles (those at the extreme back portion of the heel) are still in operation. The operation is then reversed and the needles which were raised last are lowered and This continues until all of the original fifty needles are again in operation. Then the remain ing fifty needles which have been idle during the forming of the heel may again be started and all of the needles operated to complete the foot of the stocking. k i

, According to my invention I take a knitted tubular fabric having a bend or curve formed therein similar to the heel of the stocking above described, and produced by the same or, if desired, other means. I

then cut the fabric along the front or short side of the tube and open it out flat .or as nearly so aspossible. I now have a single piece of fabric the edges of which will lie flat on a plane surface and which has a bulged or raised portion in the center. By

placing this fabric on a hat form and shrinking it or otherwise so treating it as to cause the fabric to conform to and take on the.

desired shape, I provide a hat made of one piece of fabric and which has a neat and My invention will be further describedin connection with the actompanying drawings, in which i I 1 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fabric hat embodying my invention,

ric may va Rig. 2 is a perspective view of a tubular knitted fabric from which the hat may be made.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the tubular fabric of Fig. 2 after being out along the dotted line (see Fig. 2) and opened out.

Fig. 4 shows in perspective a partial section of one suitab e type of hat form m which the hat is shaped and stiffened.

,Fig. 5 is a section taken along the hne 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line -6 of Fig. 1.

i The fabric of which the hat .of my present invention is made is preferably a kmtted fabric. The texture and weight of the fabwidely andI do not intend to limit mysel to any particular type of kn1tted fabric. On the contrary, I consider my inventionto be broadly new and I intend to include hats made of an knitted fabric whatsoever. Also woven, abricswhichare so made either by varying the tension on the warp threads or by other means as to be provided with a raised or bulged port on therein may be utilized in practicing my 1nventionand are included within the scope thereof.

According to the preferred embodiment of m invention I use a heavy closely knitted fa ric made of relatively coarse thread and com rising one or more (preferably two) thicknesses or plies of material. A fa'bnc of this sort has a considerable de ee of body and thickness, and when stretc ed does not present aii openwork or porous appearance to such a degree as appears in a stretched loosely knitted fabric of single thickness. This fabric is provided with a bulged or raised portion 1 of Fi 3. The fabric may be knitted in tubular form as illustrated in Fig. 2. A machine similar in construction to the footer above referred to may be used, the machine bein of course, large enough to knit a tube of t- 0 size required for bat construction.

'The tubular fabric of Fi 2 is out along the dotted line 2 and opene out as shown in Fig. 3. It will be notedthat the edges 3 of the fabric lie flat while the central rtion 1 bulges upward so that the top or ulged portion is a considerable distance above the plane of the edges. It will be obvious that the bulge 1 of Fig. 3.corresponds to the outer side 4 of the bent or curved tube shown in 'Variousmeans of shrinking fabrics are commonly known and used in the art, such, for

example. as wetting the fabric with Water and then drying it, or treating the fabric with a solution of caustic soda. However, I desire not only to shrink the fabric to the required shape, but also to stiffen and strengthen the fabric so that it will retain its'original shape and set and still be free from undue rigidity. In order to accompllsh this dual purpose I subject the fabric to the action of sulphuric acid. The strength of the acid solution" may be varied, depending in part on the kind of yarn used and the tightness of theknit, but I have found that a considerable degree of stiffness is given to the fabric and sufficient shrinking is produced by using sulphuric acid of a strength of from to 80 per cent by weight and preferably from 73 to 75 per cent. The fabric mag'be treated by dippin it in the acid or by orcing the acid throug the fabric or by any other means. The method of treating the fabric will depend somewhat on the number of plies inthe fabric and the closeness of the knit. I

After the fabric has been treated with the acid I allow the acid to remain in the fabric .for about one minute. I then immerse the ing the fabric from the bath I place it in a hat form. The hat form may be of any desired shape or construction. Figs. & and 5 illustrate one satisfactory type of hat form in which 5 is the lower member and 6 is the upper member. The fabric is first placed over the crown portion 7 of the lower member 5 so that the bulge 1 of the fabric is over the crown portion 7. The edge portion 3 is laid out flat and then the upper member 6 of the hat form is placed over the fabric and lower member 5. As illustrated in Fig. 5

the'upper member forces the fabric to take on the-exact shape of the lower member. The ed es of the fabric which will form the brim o the completed hat may be flat or slightlycurved as shown in Fig. 5.

When'the fabric has been firmly pressedto the desired shape in the hat form, I then place the hat form and the fabric in an oven or similar heating device. The purpose of this heating process is to dry out the fabric and-cause it to shrink to the exact shape of the hat form. When the fabric is placed in the hat form there will be wrinkles and puckers in the fabric due to the fact that the knitted fabric does not conform exactly the shape of the hat form- Durin the drying proces all the said wrinkles and puckers are taken upby the shrinkage.

When the fabric is thorou hly dried I remove the hat, form from the oven and take out the. hat fabric. The fabric now possesses a considerable degree of stiffness, and the fabric retains the shape taken on in the hat form. The edges of the fabric ind may now be trimmed so to provide an 1 oval brim on the hat. The cut edges may be turned and stitched down with stitches 8 against the upper side ofthe brim as illus trated in Fig. 6. The acid treatment hereinbefore described renders cut'edges of the fabric non-fraying, and it is therefore unnecessary, When-the said acid treatment is used, to provide any additional binding on the cut edges of the fabric.

The hat may, if desired, be provided witha hat band as shown in Fig. 1. Also it may be desirable to provide a band on the inside of the hat in order to prevent stretching and-to resist any tendency of perspiration to pass through the fabric and stain the outer surface thereof.

The hat of my invention may be made of unbleached fabric, in which case it will have the natural color, or the fabric may be given any desired color by dyeing or other means. If a plain white bleached fabric is desired, the yarn of which the fabric is made may be bleached previous to the knitting of the fabric or the hat may be bleached after it has been shrunk on the hat form. If the latter method is employed it may be found desirable again to shape the hat by placing it in the hat form after the bleaching operation.

In the foregoing specification and in the appended claims, I have used the terms cloth and fabric in describing my invention. I wish it to be understood that in using those terms, or either of them, I intend to include woven or knitted fabrics in general, that is, materials which are formed by the interlocking or interweaving of threads in a definite order or system. I do not include other materials such, for example, as felt, which by well known processes can be moulded or shaped to any desiredform. One piece felt hats have, of course, long been known in the art, and my invention is not directed to these. But so far as I am aware, my method of producing a hat made ofwoven or knitted fabric is broadly new.

, The terms and expressions which I have employed are'used as terms of description an not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described, or portions thereof, but recognize that various modifications are i possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

Whatf claim is:

1. That improvement in the art of: making cloth hats which consists in providing a fab ric blank having a raised -or bulged portion therein, treating the said blank with a shrinking agent, fitting the treated blank, while wet, to a hat .form. and drying it thereon.

2. That improvement in the art of making one piece cloth hats which consists in providing a blank made of one piece of knitted fabric having a raised or bulged portion shrinking and stiffening agent, fitting the.

treated blank, while Wet, to a hat form and drying it thereon.

4:. That improvement in the art of making one piece cloth hats which consists in providing a blank made of one .piece of knitted fabric having a raised or bulged portion therein, treating the said blank with a shrinking and stiffening agent, fitting the treated blank, While wet, to a hat form and drying it thereon; then cutting and finishing the edge of the fabric to provide the hat brim.

5. That improvement in the art of making cloth hats which consists in providing a fabric blank having a raised or bulged portion therein, treating the said blank with sulphuric acid, washing out the acid and fitting the blank, while wet, to a hat form v p Y and drying it thereon.

6. That improvement in the art of making one piece cloth hats which consists in pro-. viding a blank made of one piece of knitted .hat brim.

7. That improvement in the art of making cloth hats which consists in providing a fabric blank having a raised or bulged portion therein, treating the said blank with sulphuric acid of to 80% by Weight concentration, completely removing the acid and fitting the blank, while wet, to a; hat form and dr ing it thereon.

8. T at improvement in the art of making one piece cloth hats which consists in providing a blank made of one piece of knitted fabric having a raised or bulged portion therein, treating the said blank with sulphuric acid of 70 to 80% by weight concentration, completely removing the acid and fitting the blank, while wet, to a hat form and dryin it thereon; then cutting and finishing t e edge of the fabric to provide the hat brim.

9; That improvement in the art of making cloth hats which consists in providing 'a knitted tubular cloth having a bend or curve therein, cutting the cloth so as to form a of fabric, the edges of which are adapted to lie flat in a horizontal plane and the central portion of which go :e an inherently, and before said blank as been blocked or shaped, an upward bulge JOHN 1m m HEUSEN. 

